Hallmark changes Christmas carol’s lyrics to remove the word ‘gay’

There are hundreds of Christmas songs. The vast majority of them are entirely devoid of controversy.

That’s why it’s completely mind boggling that Hallmark chose to adorn one of its 2013 Keepsake ornaments with an altered version of the lyrics to “Deck the Halls.” “Don we now our gay apparel” became “don we now our fun apparel.”

When the lyrics to “Deck the Halls” were translated from Gaelic and published in English back in the 1800s, the word “gay” meant festive or merry. Today it has multiple meanings ... the trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun, and this ornament is intended to play into that, so the planning team decided to say what we meant: “fun.”

I’m imagining a meeting held in a conference room somewhere deep in Hallmark’s Kansas City corporate headquarters this past summer when they were brainstorming the 2013 product line. On one hand, they want to capitalize on the ugly sweater party trend. On the other hand, they don’t want to say the word “gay.”